


mercury hammer

by forlornithologist



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, Posthumous Characters, Transistor AU, characters to be added as they appear, cheesy dialogue because jayce
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-14 16:03:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11786619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forlornithologist/pseuds/forlornithologist
Summary: Jayce's newest invention, his Mercury Hammer, receives a test run. This test run includes but is not limited to: its unveiling being ruined by murder, its core being possessed by the victim of said murder, and an incursion of shambling horrors from a different dimension.League characters in the plot and premise of Transistor.





	1. old friends

**Author's Note:**

> no prior knowledge of transistor is needed but it would probably help. 
> 
> also the soundtrack is really good.
> 
> divergence from canon begins with jayce keeping the crystal he and viktor fought over in lore.

-Jayce?

 

-Get up, you lout. I didn’t do this for nothing.

 

- _Jayce._

 

Eyes open. Get up. Up up up.

 

-Finally.

 

Jayce staggered to his feet,  wiped blood splatter from his face. Stumbled over to his hammer.

 

“I’m going crazy,” he said.

 

-You’re not.

 

“I’m going--” Jayce paused to gag, clapping a hand over his mouth. “How are you talking?”

 

-I’m in your infernal hammer.

 

Jayce reached out to touch the pommel. The hammer in question was planted firmly, gruesomely, in the middle of Viktor. It had quite literally broken his heart.

 

“I’m going crazy,” Jayce said. The tinny voice came from the mercury hammer again:

 

-Just pick me up. We have to go, now. Who knows what will happen if we stay here.

 

Jayce grabbed the hammer, hefted it over his shoulder, but couldn’t take his eyes off of the body that sprawled in front of him like a broken doll.

 

“Viktor,” he said, “I’m so...”

 

- _G_ _o_.

 

Jayce walked out of the room into a seemingly endless hallway, unlit and oppressive. “Let’s assume I’m not losing my goddamn mind,” he said.

 

-You were always good at hypotheticals.

 

Jayce wanted to laugh. Even though Viktor had just been convincing him he wasn’t making things up, this sounded so much like before that--

 

“You died, and now you’re inside my hammer?”

 

-A gross oversimplification. But yes.

 

“Okay,” Jayce said, “At least I know what I’m working with.”

 

He came to a door, tried it. Locked. Farther down, another. Unlocked, and he stepped through the threshold.

 

-You had to pick the room filled with monsters.

 

The room was teeming with gibbering little creatures that oozed, and gnashed horrible teeth. When one turned, without eyes it saw Jayce, and shrieked. At once the rest of them turned and began swarming toward Jayce.

 

“What the fuck,” he said.

 

No time for thinking. It was time to go to work. Jayce swung the hammer with grace and precision that to the casual observer would betray none of the abject horror and confusion he felt.

 

“What the fuck are these things,” he yelled.

 

The hammer answered, which. Would take some getting used to.

 

-I don’t _know_.

 

Viktor--the hammer--seemed frustrated by that. It was hard to tell, though. Being that he was in a hammer, now.

 

-Jayce. Twist that upper ring on the handle.

 

“I’m a little busy,” Jayce said. He shook a creature off his leg, stomped its head. The carapace shattered, green slime spilling out and sizzling on the floor.

 

-Do it.

 

“Goddammit,” Jayce said, gripping the upper ring on the handle. “This is my invention, and it’s a work in progress. It’s not gonna--”

 

The ring spun and clicked and the head of the hammer broke. No, didn’t break, it was--rearranging itself. A trigger sprang from the ring, and Jayce pulled it. A bolt of energy issued from the head, blasting a cluster of the things into ash.

 

“Oh shit,” he said.

 

-You have quite the invention, Jayce, but I can always improve upon it.

 

The wry tone made it sound as if it were something that had been said to him once. Jayce aimed the hammer at another writhing horde, pulled the trigger. “I’ll let that slide. This is pretty handy.”

 

-Only a few more to go.

 

Jayce dialed the ring in reverse and the hammer folded back into itself. The last few creatures were relentless, scuttling after him with gaping jaws.

 

Well, more like mandibles. These things were grotesque. Like bugs, and bugs should be _squished_. Jayce leapt into the air, came crashing down on the last of them with a definitive crunch.

 

“All done.”

 

-I’ve been scanning these creatures for the duration of the fight.

 

“You can do that?” Jayce said, then remembered that Viktor had added an entirely new function to his hammer in the midst of the action. “Forget it. What did you find out.”

 

-...Literally nothing. Except that they are popping up all around Piltover and Zaun. Since they defy scientific analysis, I shall call them voidlings.

 

It was almost cute, Jayce thought, that the hammer retained Viktor’s language conventions. Eerie all the same.

 

“Okay,” Jayce said. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “This is a load of shit to deal with. You’re dead, now you’re my hammer, and _now_ there’s monsters.” A surge of panic rose in him, quickening his breath. “Nothing...I can’t handle.”

 

-I know you must be--stressed out. Imagine how I feel. They took my life’s work.

 

Then, as an afterthought,

 

- _And_ my life.

 

Jayce tried the first door he came to, stepped into another hallway. “Pididly is behind this?”

 

-He is now an affiliate of the Black Rose.

 

Jayce hustled down the hall. “I thought they preferred magic?”

 

-They prefer power. That’s why they have Chem-Barons in their pockets.

 

Jayce opened the next door. Finally outside. “Why’d they kill you?”

 

Night had fallen over the Zaun Promenade, and the lights from Piltover cast a lovely leftover glow on the glass and iron, but the street was empty.

 

-They weren’t trying to kill _me_.

 

Oh.

 

Already the fabric of his mind was knitting over the memory, wrapping it up in gauze to keep him safe, but he remembered standing at the podium. Viktor in the wings, arms folded. The hammer, displayed on the stage. The shout, the push, the messy break of a ribcage.

 

Jayce shivered.

 

Pack it up. No time for _thinking_.

 

“Where is everyone?” he said, slinging the mercury hammer over his shoulder. He trudged down the street, glanced around. It was so quiet, in a way Zaun never was.

 

-There is someone nearby, but--

 

“Vi,” Jayce said, breaking into a run.

 

The body lay twisted on the ground, and the spark of life had long since faded from the open eyes. But there was no mistaking the identity. Jayce skidded to a stop and dropped to his knees.

 

“Dammit, _no_.”

 

-You fell?

 

-Pushed? Who pushed you?

 

-There is no need for that tone.

 

“Who are you talking to,” Jayce said dully, a hand over his face. That was two people in the space of two hours that he failed to save. Two people very, very important to him, gone.

 

-Her. She’s in here now.

 

“What? Like you?” Jayce’s heart skipped; he held the hammer in front him, staring into it as if he could find Vi’s eyes looking back out at him from the crystal core. “Can I talk to her?”

 

-She’s faint. I think I can speak to you because I was killed by it.

 

“Can she _hear_ me?” Jayce said, a little more desperately than he would’ve liked.

 

-No. But she knows you’re here. And her...memory has added a function to the hammer, like I did.

 

“Can you tell her,” Jayce said.

 

-Tell her what.

 

So many things.

 

Jayce drew his hand over Vi’s eyes, closing them. Stood up, breathed deep. Pack it up. _Say something heroic_. “I’m going to fuck these guys up.”

 

-She already knew that. We need to descend into Zaun proper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trying to write what you play in a video game is hard and life is a nightmare, good thing this is...extremely niche


	2. >>PROCESS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> flavor text chapters are denoted by all caps and the >> at the beginning

**HAMMERFN = [auto, jayce, vi]**

**CANNONFN = [auto]**

 

**def(jayce):**

> new = ‘skyfall’
> 
> dmg = 180
> 
> #A brilliant rising star of Piltovan engineering who has made headlines defending the City of Progress from criminal Zaunite encroachment. His newest invention, the intriguing Mercury Hammer, is to be revealed at the annual Techmaturgical Conference in five days.

 

**def(viktor):**

> new = ‘augment_core’
> 
> dmg = 0
> 
> if HAMMERFN:
> 
>    HAMMERFN = CANNONFN
> 
> else:
> 
>    CANNONFN = HAMMERFN
> 
> #A Zaunite inventor. Attempted to falsely claim credit for Professor Stanwick Pididly’s leadership of the Blitzcrank project. Has since resigned himself to terrorizing Zaun and Piltover with his mechanical abominations and mindless disciples of a disturbing “Glorious Evolution”. The Evolution in question is Viktor’s mission to eliminate human creativity and independence.

 

**def(vi):**

> new = ‘powerslam’
> 
> dmg = 310
> 
> #A woman who left behind troublemaking in Zaun to be a peacekeeper in Piltover. Partner of Sheriff Caitlyn. Possesses pair of giant hextech gauntlets. Brash, aggressive, reckless, and incurably good-hearted.


	3. forecast

 

“You know,” said Jayce, “Even on its worst days, I don’t recall Zaun having a dead body every other block.”

 

He nudged the clockwork corpse with the toe of his boot. “Not that this thing was ever alive.”

 

-Shut up. Bring me closer.

 

Jayce crouched down, tipping the head of the hammer towards the automaton’s placid face. He frowned. It was imbued with young, feminine features; forever sightless eyes and an almost coy set of the brows. 

 

It gave Jayce the creeps.

 

-Extracting the memory. Congratulations. Your hammer received another function.

 

Jayce threw his hands up. “Okay, dead people need to stop messing with my shit.”

 

-You should have accepted that strange things would happen to your hammer when you put that crystal in it.

 

Jayce stood up, dusted his hand on his pants.

 

-Would you like to know what  _ this thing _ has to say?

 

Jayce pinched his nose. “This might as well happen, yeah.”

 

-She saw your Sheriff going down into Zaun. Searching for something.

 

“Your killers, probably,” Jayce said, “At least I’m not alone here. The only other people I’ve found thus far are dead.”

 

The hammer fell silent. Jayce looked back down at the shattered machine body. It had been broken open, cogs spilling macabre on the street, and almost looked like something had taken a bite out of it. Even so, the face was lovely. The detail (where it remained) was almost beautiful, toylike. Childlike.

 

“What killed her. It.”

 

-What killed you?

 

-I see.

 

-A voidling’s slime started corroding her gears. When she struggled to fix it, some other voidlings jumped her. One of them started eating her.

 

Jayce started walking. “I bet you’re glad you’re safe in the hammer, and not out here in your old body,” he said. “Slime in your gears.”

 

-I didn’t have gears, the hammer said irritably.

 

“Could’ve sworn you had gears.”

 

A scurrying in the corner of an alley caught Jayce’s attention. “These must be the voidlings she was talking about.”

 

-You can take them.

 

Jayce dialed the ring around, turning the hammer into the cannon. “I know,” he said, and fired at the cluster.

 

Some of them howled as they sizzled into nothing, but those who hadn’t borne the brunt of the damage stormed forward. Time to change it up. He twisted the ring, the cannon reshaped itself into the hammer. 

 

The closest voidling was suddenly caught in a string of light--Jayce shouted in surprise as electricity poured out of the hammer in a cage around him.

 

**def(orianna):**

> new = ‘protect’
> 
> dmg = 170
> 
> #Orianna R̠̳͕̼̈ͮe̷̠̻̪̲͓̬̩͍̋͌ͥͤͤͪ̓̒̕v̋̉̕҉̴̦̞̣̰̰e̤̥̪͈̰̪̿ͩ͊͊ͣ͒͝ć̶̴̰̝̖̣̮͈̊͌̇̉͞k̸͇̲͇͕̣̙̠͚̎ͭ̑ is from Piltover, and w̄̋̓ͯ͆͏̺̰̘̺ͅö̷̼̗͙̹̥̦ͭ̋̊u̜̲͂̒̊͛l̥͌̒̀̉͌͛͠d̰͈̱̈̂͑̈́̈́̇ͬ ̛̯̻̠͎̦̄̇̌͑ͬ̊ͭ̚͡m̢͍̟͍̫̥̺̭̤̱̆̊̇͐̌̈ͣ̋i̸̬̣͎̮͉͎̭̮̬ͪͩs̢̭̠̤̠̘̩ͤ̅ͬ͌̕s̢͕̠͍̎̐̂̄̿ͤͩ̾̚̕͞ ͭ̃͊̓҉̡͎͚̟̬̼̞̠ͅḩ͈̩̘̪̦̦͉̲̇̽̓̉̒̄̓̏ͪ͜e̻͍͉̲͖ͨͦ̒̇͐͝r̴̥̥̺̼̙̼̭̈́͠ ̡̢̼͔͕̺̩͍͉͆͡f̗̟̘͙̦̻ͦà͟͠҉̬̞̯t̪͎́̓̑ͮ̌ͭ̓ͤ̅͟ḫ̟̟͔̖̙̣̘̀ͩ͌̆ͯe̜̠̣̤̬̫ͩ̋̋r̸̵̦̼̰̐͛͊̓͝ ̹̣̩̤̦̒͂͠v̷̛̟̯͎̞̖̩̯̀̽e̥̭̭̯̿̓͜͝͠r͗̍̚͠͞҉̰̱̮͍̩y̜̪ͣͭ,̜͓͔̰̯̭̻̲̋̔̍̽̚ ̦̮̯̤̮͉̮̮ͤͭͮͥ͋͋ͥ̄v̬̗̳͎̯͗ͫ̃͂̈́͑͛e̴̵̠̟̙̳̬ͭͤͬr̢̛͈̭ͭ̆ͤ̚ͅͅͅỳ̯̀͘ ̹̂̒ͭͨ̓͘m̟̪͈̠̜̀͗͒̿̐̎̚u̴̗͈̤͖̖̾̔̆ͧ̈̆͞c̰̫̙͑ͩ̀͂̂͗͛ͩẖ̶̞͍̫͙̮͂ͩ̆̊̚ ̶̡̧͖͇̆̋ͭ̾͂ͅi̷̜͔̦̭̠͎̠̲͂̾͜f̢̭͎̭̠̤̠̱̒̑̋͑ͮ̚ ̱͉͉͕̈́͐ͯ̎̓ͬs̵̰̩̙̼̝̦͇̬̃̄͡h̡̳͐̉͐ͬ͋͜͜e̱͈̣̰̹͍͚̺̐̊ͬ̏͜ ͕̟͉͒ͩc̵͈̣̗̗̮͈̺̬͑ͮ̏ͧ̈́ͨ̾͘o̤͙̰̦͊͜u̶̲͔̺̫͍̒̋̇͆̃͂̋ͅl̢̟̲̩͋ͭ͆̆ͯ̆̽͝͝d̟̠͂̈ͩͪ̕.̭̼̻̖̮̝̳̙ͦ͛͆͆ͣ.

 

-Interesting. Nothing I haven’t seen before, albeit cruder.

 

“Can you save the commentary for when I’m not in a lightning storm?” Jayce said.

 

-You won’t be hurt. The voidlings, however.

 

Jayce broke forward while several were still rigid from shock, bringing the hammer down on them in a scientific fashion (he crushed their heads). He cleaned up the scene quickly, in only the figurative sense of the word, as the alley was literally strewn with slime and entrails.

 

“That was easy,” he said.

 

-Something is coming.

 

Sure enough, a shadow loomed over the alley, drawing nearer. Jayce heard gurgling, and the prickle of unease at his neck bloomed into dread down his spine as he turned.

 

The voidling waddled into view, and it was cute.

 

Jayce started to laugh. “This one is bigger than the others, but look at him! Look at that face! He just looks like a fat bug.”

 

The voidling opened its mouth, and bolts and cogs spilled liberally from its drooling maw. The spines on the back of its head flared, and it projectile vomited right at Jayce.

 

Jayce narrowly dodged. 

 

-A hungry, fat, bug, with corrosive slime, said the hammer dryly.

 

“Is that your professional opinion?” said Jayce.

 

He charged at the voidling head-on, and it responded by hurling a ball of mucus in the field in front of it, which spread and steamed as it digested the street, reaching Jayce’s feet. Jayce kept up the approach doggedly.

 

-Your boots are going to burn through. Get out of this.

 

Jayce jumped, landed, the hammer slammed down on the creature’s head. The voidling shrieked, but, lucky as they were, didn’t break like the rest of its kind.

 

It just looked pissed.

 

It started hawking up slime balls at a rapid pace, firing after Jayce as he scrambled.

 

-You need to get close. It can’t move quickly.

 

Jayce dove in again, the lightning field activating. It arced around the voidling, creeping into the clefts of its carapace plates and lighting it up.

 

Jayce took the opportunity to give it a good supercharged whack, sending it crashing into the alley wall. It twitched, then it stopped.

 

Jayce crowed, strolling closer, “Not one of these mutants can stand up to hextech.”

 

-Get back!

 

The voidling suddenly clambered to its feet, sludge frothing from its mouth and many eyes, and started chasing Jayce.

 

Jayce startled to such a degree that he fell backward, scooting himself away from the squealing voidling, before managing to get back on his feet. He ran back through the slime trail, reached the mouth of the alley.

 

The voidling gamely pressed on, but its feet caught in the melting pavement, without the apparent intelligence to free itself. It screeched again horribly, and exploded. 

 

Jayce threw his arms over his face, feeling the impact of slime-spatter on his clothes. The coverage was light--he was far away enough to not have been hit badly, and the gunk only ate away a patch or two of his coat before fizzling out.

 

“What the fuck,” Jayce said. 

 

-Unfortunately I haven’t figured out how to manipulate this crystal core to record outside events.

 

“What?”

 

-I wish I had proof of how loudly you screamed.

 

Jayce dropped the hammer carelessly on the ground. “Oops, did that hurt you?”

 

-No. The only thing it hurt was your pride.

 

Jayce sighed and picked the hammer up, trudging down the street. Soon the Zaun promenade would give way to the Entresol. It was a matter of finding the right staircase.

 

“Where do you think Cait is?” Jayce said. “How far into Zaun do I have to go?”

 

-Why should I know, and try not to sound so disdainful of my city.

 

“It’s infested with monsters that eat robots and tried to kill me.”

 

-Do you have a point.

 

Jayce recognized with some relief the Lead Staircase, which gave way to the next level of Zaun. He began his descent.

 

The hammer spoke:

 

-Do you remember the Great Blight?

 

Jayce squinted. “No.”

 

-Why am I not surprised. The accident at an explosives plant. People were dying on the street.

 

A bit quiet, the hammer added,

 

-It was Blitzcrank’s public debut.

 

“Disaster stuff doesn’t really interest me,” Jayce said.

 

-Your self-absorption aside, I recall clearly now the Blight. It began in the air, which poisoned you. Piece by piece you fell into disrepair. ‘Disrepair’ is perhaps a misnomer. You became irreparable. You coughed. You fevered. You dribbled thick, viscous mucus. And then you died.

 

“Gross,” said Jayce, “But I don’t think these voidlings were ever human.”

 

-Of course not, the hammer said.

 

-But the exploding one, it was so different from the others you’ve been squishing. I wonder if it was once something else? Perhaps the void...ness, it spreads like the Blight.

 

-Perhaps you are already infected.

 

Jayce paused on a step, holding the hammer up to look at it. His handsome reflection was twisted in the gold plating. For the first time in a while, he wished he could see someone else’s face. Even Viktor’s grisly metal mask would do, if only it had the light of intelligence behind its eyes.

 

“You’re getting macabre, Viktor,” he said.

 

-I have always been.

 

“I might’ve put my foot in mouth a while ago. I said I was alone.”

 

-You weren’t wholly incorrect.

 

Jayce resumed his travel down the stairs, a hand on the rail to steady himself as he maintained his gaze on the hammer’s crystal heart. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have 1. school 2. work 3. unpaid internship to wrangle so forgive me if updates are few and far between
> 
> kog'maws splash art is so cute, and then his model is so...like that


	4. >>JOURNAL

_ From the Journal of Professor Cecil B. Heimerdinger _

 

03.02

> 09:30
> 
> A new mystery has dropped itself on my doorstep! Courtesy of a young explorer I have obtained a beautiful crystal specimen of Shuriman origin. It’s true I specialize in mechanics and not mineralogy, but how could I refuse the nephew of one of my old colleagues?

 

> 16:00
> 
> The crystal’s secrets elude me for now. Should be able to spend more time on it in a few weeks when Customs work slows down.
> 
> It’s only been a few days since the Techmaturgical Conference, but my head is still abuzz with ideas!

03.10

> 11:04
> 
> Crystal is excellent battery. Electrical impulses from it are quite interesting, not unlike the sparks one sees in a brain’s synapses, producing memory. I’ve devoted my life to science, but there’s no doubt about it. This is a magical artifact! But magic is just unexplained science. I can get to the bottom of this.
> 
>  
> 
> Must remember to get tea. Sheriff wants to catch up.

03.12

> 01:01
> 
> With a little help from that explorer and the Academy I’ve been able to conjure up some theories. One of which I find very tempting--the crystal is some sort of sponge or reservoir for memory and feeling, and somehow uses this as an engine for its boundless energy. 
> 
> 03:00
> 
> Forgot to mention my research is being archived at the Academy. For obvious reasons, it’s classified for now. Only those with the highest clearance at the Academy and the College of Techmaturgy have access.

04.04

> 00:29
> 
> I fear in all the excitement of the past week I failed to mention something important. The Shuriman crystal. I’ve extracted all the data I can from it, for now. While it’s incredible, I lack the time to give its study the attention it deserves. I’ve handed it off (with the discoverer’s permission, of course!) to a young engineer. He’s quite bright! I believe he will contribute immensely not only to the study of the crystal, but the future of Piltover.


End file.
